you and me—forever
by eleutheromaniac
Summary: Eren's determined to ask the girl of his dreams to marry him—unfortunately, his friends don't understand what "I can handle this on my own, guys" actually means. Chaos ensues. (eremika with slight yumikuri and springles/a late christmas gift for mikasaxackerman on tumblr)


**A/N: **A _super_ late Christmas gift for mikasaxackerman on tumblr. I'm sorry that it took me so long to finish this! I really enjoyed writing this however, so I hope that everyone else enjoys reading as well. c:

(Also, please excuse any typos and the like—I was kind of really excited to post this.)

* * *

"Well, look who it is. Mister Yeager Bom-_fucking_-bastic."

The young man flinches at the old nickname and tone of his friend, cringing at the smell of alcohol on her breath. "Ymir. I would've thought that once you got the girl of your dreams you would've stopped being so awful. Apparently not."

Something flashes in the taller woman's eyes until she is shoved out of the way to reveal a blonde woman with a welcoming grin. "Eren! I'm so happy to see you! Don't mind Ymir: she got into another drinking challenge with Reiner last night."

Eren swears that he hears a muffled "He said that if I won, he'd stop calling you a goddess! You're _my_ goddess, no one else's! He needs to learn how to filter his thoughts, the stupid, good-for-nothing—" and that he isn't imagining it, but the voice is cut off so quickly that he isn't really sure what to believe at all.

Krista—Eren figures that calling her anything else at this point is good enough to get him a punch straight to the jaw by the young woman's fiery wife—shoots a frown to the right, immediately silencing her beloved's rambles. There's a mumbled apology and then glittering blue turns to face Eren once more. "Oh, where are my manners! Do come in, Eren, it's been such a long time since we've gotten to talk to one another!" He allows himself a smile bright enough to match her own that morphs into a smirk when she whispers, "Sorry, Ymir just gets a little grouchy in the mornings. Don't take it personally."

"I heard that and _I'll_ take it personally."

Eren hears a giggle from behind his seat on the couch and registers the sound of a peck on the cheek, and when the two women finally take a seat in front of him, Ymir's cheeks are flushed a bright red.

_Ah, true love_.

"So, what brings you over, Eren? You're usually so busy with work so we only see you whenever someone is hosting a party now."

Ymir snorts at her wife's words before turning to face the young man seated before her. "What do you do for a living again, Yeager?"

While Eren typically feels a surging sense of pride for his job—he does truly love it after all—he can't help but feel his cheeks heat up in mild embarrassment this time, knowing that when he gives his answer it'll only open up a new window for teasing remarks from the freckled woman before him. "I, uh—"

Krista smirks playfully as she elbows the woman to her left. "Oh, don't you remember? He works as the famous Mikasa Ackerman's photographer. Though, from what Jean tells me, he's more like her pet dog. Jean says that all Eren really does is bring her protein shakes and do her laundry and sort her fan mail and—"

Ymir bursts into loud, untameable laughter as she bellows, "Oh _god_, Yeager, you didn't tell me that you actually got _paid _to be a whipped boyfriend! That's it! I'm absolutely _done_."

"S-Shut up! Like Jean does anything himself! The title of 'publicity manager' is just an extravagance on him, he doesn't even _do _anything!"

"Probably because you get so easily jealous that you don't even let the poor guy do his job if it means that he has to get too close to Mikasa," Ymir snickers. "Poor widdle Eren, all he wants is for Mikasa Senpai to notice him~" The petite woman beside her giggles at the teasing nature of her voice and Eren can't help but realize that the angelic girl that he had grown up with has _definitely_ received a devilish tint to her persona.

"O-Okay? Whatever, I love my job. I'm sure that you'd have a lot more fun doing what I do for Krista over whatever the hell it is you're doing now to make money."

Ymir snorts in retaliation, "Yeager, please don't compare the two of us: I don't want to be brought down to your level."

If possible, Eren's face brightens even more and Krista's laughter becomes more prominent throughout the room.

"Sorry, sorry, I just knew that if I reminded her what your job was something funny would happen,"she apologizes, though Eren can't help but bitterly note that it comes off as _incredibly_ unapologetic. "Anyway, I don't think that we were really able to catch an answer from you. What brings you to the neighborhood? I doubt that you would've come all this way just to hang out."

At this point, Eren's face has somehow managed to become so red to the point that it looks like he's going to run out of air and have his face just fall off entirely. Krista is somewhat concerned by this, but Ymir can't help but cock an eyebrow. "Do you need a drink or something, Yeager? I think that Reiner left some whiskey here last night…"

He shakes his head furiously at the offer while Krista elbows her wife slightly for such a naughty suggestion. The freckled woman only glowers even more at the man in front of her. "Well, what is it? Speak up."

"OkaysoIkindofdidsomethingdumbandIshouldhavecometoyouguysfirstIdon'tevenknowwhatIwasthinkingbutItold_them_andtheytotallyblewitoutofproportionsandnowI'mstuckinthisawkwardembarrassingspotandIneed_help_okay?"

The two women blink in surprise and exchange a glance.

After a few moments, Ymir nods, grabs the cold coffee on the small table before them, and throws it into their guest's face.

When Eren only continues to stare at them with the same desperate nature and it's clear that he's just as embarrassed as ever (no anger whatsoever, to the women's surprise), the brunette heaves a sigh and runs a hand through her already-messed-up ponytail while her wife frowns in further pity. "Okay, _fine_. Let's try this again—and _slower_ this time."

The young man continues to fidget uncomfortably before finally forcing the words out of his mouth. "I'm planning to propose to Mikasa…"

Krista shrieks in delight.

Ymir rolls her eyes at the man's overdramatic nature..

"B-But, see, I accidentally let the news slip to my co-workers and… Uh… Things have gotten a little out of hand."

"Who _exactly_ are these co-workers?"

"SashaConnieJeanArminandIthinkmybossesheardittooLeviandErwinprobablyspendalloftheirfreetimejudgingmesuperhard."

The two women grimace as Krista hesitantly asks, "What have they done?"

Eren pauses and his green eyes flicker towards the window behind their heads as he allows his mind to be consumed in the horrible events that have previously occurred to him. There's a far-off look in his eyes as he murmurs, "It's a long story…"

(Ymir turns to Krista in disgusted confusion. "He's being _really_ dramatic about this. Should I force him to hurry it up?"

A hushed giggle. "No, no, this is how Eren's always been. We haven't seen him in months, let's just let him continue to enjoy himself. God knows he has things he apparently needs to get off his chest."

There's only a low hum in response as her features scrunch together in distaste at the current situation, freckles squishing together in a childish manner that makes the blonde's heart flutter.

"Fine, but if he starts crying for no reason, _you're_ dealing with it."

"Okay, deal!")

* * *

The gym is particularly crowded on that day, reeking of sweat, cheap air freshener, and blender fumes resulting from making too many protein shakes in too haphazard of a manner.

A string of curses escapes the lips of the green-eyed boy as he—once again—succeeds in forgetting that the blender is in such a cheap state that the lid no longer remains on the blender unless you hold it there or duct tape it into place.

The makeshift kitchen area within one of the backrooms is now covered with gooey chunks of pinkish red and Eren can't help but cringe when he realizes how bad of a situation he'll be when Levi—one of the head trainers of the gym—finds out about the mess.

He realizes that he needs to get it cleaned up pronto.

Pronto meaning right after he finishes making the drink for Mikasa—who would likely be finished with her ten-minute stretch in a matter of seconds and would be wondering where her protein shake was—of course.

At the idea of disappointing his girlfriend, something within his chest surges and he rushes forward to grab another crappy blender from within the cabinet to start another mix going. He's about to fling open the lid of the protein itself until he feels an amused smirk fixated on his back and hears an arrogant laugh from behind him.

"Wow, look at you go, Yeager. It looks like you stuck a dead body in the microwave again."

"What the hell, Jean, that doesn't even make sense."

"Connie, shut up, okay, it sounded better in my head," the man whines, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "Goddamn, this is why I'll never be cool, I fucking _swear_—"

Eren grimaces at the entrance of the two men, choosing to not pay them much mind for the time being since he has an important task at hand. "Shut the hell up, Horse-Face. I have more important things to do right now rather than deal with you."

He can practically _feel_ the taller boy roll his eyes from behind him.

"Chill, man. Sasha's already got Mikasa's drink covered. It's the holiday season, so I'm _pretty_ sure that she's just sucking up to Mikasa in the hopes that she'll get a good gift."

Eren immediately drops everything that he's holding—ignorant of the fact that it only creates an even bigger mess—and spins around. "But _I_ make Mikasa's drinks every morning," comes the childish complaint. "Mikasa doesn't even _care_ about Christmas! _I _do the Christmas shopping for her!"

(Ymir snickers at this pretty loudly, singsonging, "_Whipped!~_" as Krista laughs in amusement.)

At these words, there's a sudden flash of red as an eager girl flings herself at her co-worker. "_Eren_! Have you looked at my wish list yet? I was looking through this magazine that I got at the food warehouse store, and there's this Japanese imported meat, it's over a thousand dollars, but really, it would _totes_ be worth it—"

Youthful features distort themselves into an expression of disgust as he pushes the woman off of him. "You're not getting anything worth over twenty bucks for what you've done! Now I probably look like a bad boyfriend for not pulling through for Mikasa!"

"And Sasha finally looks like she's doing her job," Jean adds in snidely, causing bright red to flash on Sasha's cheeks and anger to flash once more in Eren's eyes.

"Nutritionist is just a _title_," Eren responds, clearly not knowing what else to say. There are an awkward few moments as he struggles with words until he sheepishly throws an arm around Sasha's shoulders, "Besides, Sasha and I are _great_ pals, I'm just helping out a buddy."

The woman's eyes instantly gleam with excitement. "_Really_? So does this mean—"

"_No_."

Jean rolls his eyes. "So the reason why you always insist in doing _my_ job is because we're great pals as well?"

Eren suddenly looks like he wants to vomit.

Connie, on the other hand, just frowns. "Hey, Eren, we've known each other since we were kids! Why don't you ever take care of _my_ job responsibilities."

"Connie, you're a janitor."

"_Exactly_. I'm the one guy in this entire joint who doesn't even _like_ his job, yet I'm also the one guy whose job Eren doesn't even _do_." He wrinkles his nose in disgust before turning to face Jean and Sasha. "Really, you guys don't even know how lucky you are."

The two supposed offenders merely raise an eyebrow at the words.

"Oh, just a reminder, Eren: you should do us all a favor and buy Connie some cleaning products that _aren't_ from the dollar store. I'm pretty sure that none of the stuff he uses actually even _works_."

"It's not my fault that Levi has all the expensive stuff locked up in his office!"

It's not long before the room erupts into violent shouts: Connie defending himself against Jean who's trying to continue antagonizing Eren who's gone back to chastising Sasha who's still not really sure what's going on and can't stop herself from laughing at Connie's argument—only resulting in the slightly shorter male to whine about how she's abandoned him as well, making Sasha flush in confusion and turn Eren and Jean into kindergarten girls on the playground, childishly giggling over the interaction.

When another figure enters the room, things immediately go silent.

However, when they each slowly turn to face the man that has entered, they each immediately calm down. "Oh, Armin. It's just you. Thought you had been Levi there, for a second."

The young boy feels something in his temple pound in irritation due to the comment (because god_damn_, he could be _way_ cooler than that guy if he tried, but _no_, he doesn't come across as too badass enough and everyone forgets him on his birthday—not that he's still bitter about that or anything), but he chooses to push himself through it. "Well, I had the feeling that _something_ bad was going on in here."

"His Eren senses were tingling," Connie whispers to Sasha. She bursts into boisterous laughter and the duo receives piercing green eyes glaring at them in retaliation. Jean chooses to raise his eyebrows with a smirk, nodding his head in approval at the line.

Armin, on the other hand, is basically done with the childish bullshit taking place in the room and—once again—forces himself to remain civil. "What exactly's going on here? I know that Eren had said that he wanted to talk to us all today, in this room, but I hadn't figured myself to be the last one here." He pauses for a moment to check his watch, not too surprised when he sees the time. "Eren's usually serving as Mikasa's punching bag since Levi's not too fond of getting up early in the morning to do the basics with her at this time. Why's he here?"

Eren flushes, bottom lip jutting out in annoyance. "Sasha gave Mikasa a protein shake before I could."

"Ah," Armin responds, "I see."

Armin, in all honesty, doesn't see a thing. In fact, all he really knows is that his best friend's devotion to his girlfriend is uncanny and unrelenting, always finding a way to push through whatever barriers stand in the way between the two of them. He wouldn't call it an obsessive love, persay, but rather a love in which one relied on the other to fuel their existence: Eren needed Mikasa, would _always _need Mikasa, and though she didn't always show it openly, it was clear to him that it was the same way for her.

He's also been shipping it for basically over a decade now, so he thinks that it's about damn time that they've gotten together.

"Anyway," Jean drawls, "What did you need us for, Yeager? I have a job that I need to pretend to be doing, you know."

"Shh, Jean. Eren basically _is_ your job. Don't take it for granted. I'm still super jealous."

"Shut up, Connie."

Sasha shoots the taller boy a glare, effectively silencing him, before turning towards the blushing boy beside her. "Well, Eren? What's up?"

Eren looks around at his four closest friends, fidgeting uncomfortably in his position. He eventually opts to walk backwards until he bumps into the counter and succeeds in accidentally knocking down one of the blenders he had taken out earlier. It smashes on the ground and the others in the room cringe, but for some reason, Eren ignores it in the hopes of looking cool as though his face _isn't_ as red as a tomato while he leans against the surface, arms crossed over his chest.

His four friends each raise an eyebrow at his behavior, beckoning him to hurry the hell up and get on with it.

("Yep," Ymir sneers, "I know _exactly_ how they feel." Krista elbows her sharply in the ribcage.)

"OkaysoIknowthatMiksasaandIarestillkindofyounglikesuperyoungIguessforthisbutnotreallybutokayanywayguysIreallyreally_really_likeherandcan'timaginelifewithoutherandIthinkIwanttomarryher."

The only response he receives is a collective bored stare as Armin calmly forces, "Eren. Slower."

"Ugh, guys, c'mon, keep _up_," Eren shouts, clearly flustered with his current situation. "I, uh, I kind of… Um…"

Jean immediately opens his mouth as though he's about to angrily retort back, but Sasha effectively shuts him up with another one of her annoyed glares.

"_Eren_."

"I WANT TO ASK MIKASA TO MARRY ME, OKAY?"

Silence immediately echoes throughout the room as the information is processed through each individual's mind. However, it's not long before the emptiness is broken with a loud cheer and a whooping holler from Sasha and Connie.

"Eren, I'm so happy for you!"

"So do you think your babies are going to be really buff and kickass, or kinda lanky and wimpy?"

"Yeager, you better be good to her. If you ever wrong her in _any _way—"

"Heh. _Called it_."

The green-eyed boy has only gotten redder and has given up on trying to act cool in favor of kicking around the shards of glass from the broken blender at his feet and playing with his hands uncomfortably. "I'm not too sure how I want to go about it though. I want to make it something big and memorable, but I know that Mikasa's not really into anything extravagant or flashy, so—"

"Ooh! Ooh! You need to make sure to have chocolate!"

"Get the ring sized in advance!"

"It's all about the _romance_, Eren!"

"If you do it in a front of a bunch of people, then there's no way that she'll say no!"

His friends are erupting with various ideas for their friend's proposal, making Eren chuckle nervously, his body shaking in excited anticipation despite the mess he didn't realize he was getting himself into. "Though I appreciate the enthusiasm, I can handle this on my own, guys. Really."

All four stop their chatter to stare at him. "No," they deadpan in unison.

Eren suddenly realizes the mess that he's gotten himself into and is suddenly more fearful for his life than he had been minutes ago. His friends trying to be helpful was _certainly_ worse than Levi publicly whooping his ass for turning the kitchen into a dump.

_Well, fuck_.

* * *

Ymir really can't stop her manic laughter this point as she guffaws, "Oh _God_, you asked _them_ for help! Yeager, really, have any of them ever even _been_ in a relationship?"

Eren flushes in anger. "I didn't _ask_ them! They kind of just took it upon themselves!" He pauses for a moment before deciding to halfheartedly add, " Because they're good friends!"

The words only make the freckled woman laugh harder.

Krista, on the other hand, is shocked by Ymir's statement. "Wait, Sasha and Connie still aren't together? After all this time?"

"Nah, I think they're both still too awkward and oblivious. It's a young love thing."

"_Riiiiight_."

"Okay, so story aside, what exactly is it that you want from us, Yeager?"

Despite his previous annoyance, the young man can't help but raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Isn't it obvious? I've been unintentionally screwed over. I want a re-do." When neither woman really reacts to his words, he decides to clarify, "All four of them meddled in my relationship and they've all only succeeded in making me look like an idiot. So I want a re-do: you guys help me out with this whole proposal thing so that I can forget all of the bullshit those dumbasses put me through over the past week and I'll be your eternal slave for forever."

The couple before him blink at the brevity of his words, before looking at each other and sharing a silent conversation.

Eren feels hope. There's a light at the end of this deep, long tunnel after all.

"The answer's no," Ymir deadpans.

The light immediately disappears.

"_What_?"

Krista sighs, "I just don't know about this, Eren. I'm sure that they didn't do so bad—"

"And as much as I'd _love_ to have you as an eternal slave," Ymir pauses to actually cringe at the thought of having to spend even _more_ time with the boy before her, "I'm not even sure where we'd start."

"Y-You don't understand! Just hear me out, okay? You don't know what I've been through!"

Ymir shakes her head slowly, but Krista feels pity for the man before them, and nudges her lightly. "Okay, Eren. What else have you got?"

He beams at her, teeth glistening in the light of the room again as he begins.

"Alright, so it started when Connie decided that I was taking too long to make a move…"

(Ymir groans, "God, why does he have to make all of his stories so long and dramatic?"

"Oh, they're not _that_ bad. I think that they're kind of entertaining."

There's a frown, but Ymir allows herself a small smile as she ruffles the shorter woman's blonde locks. "Whatever makes you happy.")

* * *

It had been two days after Eren told the rest of the gang about his intentions.

Things had been running quite smoothly—or so he had thought—and he had almost completely forgotten that his meddling friends knew his plans of proposal.

"Oi, Eren. Over here!"

The relaxed state didn't last for all too long.

Hearing the voice, Eren lowered the camera away from his face in surprise. Mikasa had one more fansigning scheduled before her final game of the year and Erwin had asked him to snap a few extra shots of her in the practice room to show the fans. His current position—body squished beneath the ropes of the practice ring, stuck in an uncomfortable halfway elevated position, inches away from getting stepped on by the training fighter—isn't really a favorable one, and he forces himself to ignore his faint annoyance (it had taken _forever_ to get there) in order to shimmy out of it.

It takes a good two minutes (though it feels more like an eternity) for Eren to finally be sitting up straight with a camera that's still in proper condition. When he raises his head to meet the gaze of the individual that had called him over in the first place, he can practically _feel_ the vein throbbing within his forehead.

Gently placing the camera and assortment of lenses down onto a table, the young man stomps over to face his assailant, towering over him as he hisses, "Connie, what the actual _fuck._"

The only response he receives is that of an obnoxiously cheesy grin and an excited, "Bro, I've figured it out."

"Figured _what_ out?"

Connie's brows scrunch together in confusion as he stares at Eren as though _he's_ the one that's been calling to him from behind a trash can for the past ten minutes. "How you're going to propose to Mikasa, you big dummy."

Eren immediately flushes a bright shade of red and socks the shorter male in the shoulder. "I _told you_ that I could do this myself!"

If he had figured that his friend would be offended, then he was incredibly wrong. Instead, Connie simply rolls his eyes, "Man, I'm not so sure. From back here, it looked like you had been spending the past hour trying to get photos of your girlfriend's nether regions and jiggling boobs." When Eren's expression falls in absolute horror, Connie can do nothing but put his hands up to prove his innocence, "Look, man, I just call it as I see it. I ain't one to judge."

"Connie, I was just trying to get a different _angle_. By taking a photo of the subject from the ground facing up, you give them an additional sense of power and—"

"Likely story, man. But whatever, I've got you covered."

Before Eren can beg for anything other than Connie's "cover," the young man reaches inside the trash can he had been pushing around to pull out a white porcelain mug with a small red heart in the corner by the handle.

"That's disgusting."

"No, it's not," the brown-eyed boy cries, suddenly offended. "There's nothing else in this trash can. It took me a whole _hour_ to clean it out, dude, but I did it for you so that I could ensure top secrecy."

Eren says nothing but makes sure to narrow his eyes so that his harsh judgment can silently be received by his companion.

However, Connie seems to be completely oblivious to such negative ministrations, and instead, tilts the cup so that Eren can see its contents. Engraved on the very bottom are the words, "WILL YOU MARRY ME?"

It's pretty slick, Eren can't deny it.

"All you have to do tomorrow is wake her up with some nice hot chocolate in bed or something—I hear it's supposed to snow, you know, that'll make for a super cute cuddle session, amiright—and then when she finishes and looks down and reads the words, she'll be all like, 'Whoa, whatthefuckisthis.' And then she'll turn to you all confused-like, and you'll pull the ring out—like, I don't know, out of your boxers or something—and right then and there, you ask her to marry you." He pauses to show off a smug grin. "Dude, you've got this."

Eren, in all honesty, is absolutely shocked that this idea isn't something ridiculously dumb and immediately feels regret for not giving Connie enough credit. It's clear that his childhood friend has gone through a lot in order to procure all the items needed in order for such an impromptu proposal and in that moment, Eren feels so flattered that he could probably cry.

("Dear _God_," Ymir groans. "Yeager, you're such a fucking _wuss_.")

He's at such a loss for words that when Connie hands the mug to him and gives him a reassuring pat on the back, he can do nothing but embrace him in a tight hug of thanks.

"Uh, Eren, I haven't told anyone this, so can you maybe keep a secret?"

A single hum in response.

"I think that I'm in love with Sasha."

(Krista squeals.)

Eren squeals.

"You should go for it, Connie, I think that she likes you too."

The brown-eyed boy tries his best to hide his blush as he awkwardly mumbles, "I don't know, haha. But I do know that my chances might get hurt if she sees me in a situation like this. I mean, I'm all for the bro-hug, Eren, but—"

"Don't worry. If she asks me about anything I'll make sure to throw in a no homo."

Connie squeezes a little harder. "Thanks, man. You're the real MVP."

* * *

Ymir stares at Eren with pure judgment expressed blatantly on her features. "_Please_ tell me that the last bit of that conversation didn't really happen."

"Why?"

"I like to think that I hold a minimal amount of respect for you and Springer, and you're treading on very thin ice right now. So tell me. Be honest."

"I can't, Ymir," Eren says with a shake of his head.

"Yeah," Krista chimes in, "It's one of the conditions of a no homo."

Ymir blinks in confusion at Krista before allowing her voice to drop an octave, "But I want _all _the homo,"

Krista smirks and bats her eyelashes flirtatiously at the woman beside her.

Eren awkwardly sits in the room as the third wheel and doesn't know what to do.

The awkwardness continues for another good five minutes before Eren loudly clears his throat. "It didn't work though."

The moment between the two women is broken as Krista turns to Eren in confusion and Ymir forcibly restrains herself from strangling him. "What do you mean?"

Ymir huffs in exasperation and angrily mutters, "If the female version of a cockblock hasn't been coined yet, I'm going to go ahead and call it the Yeager."

"When I went to the door to pay for the pizza we ordered that night, I came back to see her pulling things out of my photography bag and she was just about to pull out the mug that Connie had bought."

Krista's eyes widen, "Oh no! What did you do?"

"I did the only thing I _could_ do," Eren responds solemnly while puffing out his chest and doing his best to look super suave and super heroic. "I dropped the pizza, knocked over a lamp or two, jumped over the sofa, threw myself onto the kitchen counter, grabbed the mug from her hands, and smashed it onto the floor."

It's clear that he had expected his dramatic story to impress the woman before him, but instead she angrily huffs at him in rage, "Eren, you can't do something like that! She must have been so confused and startled!"

"_And_ you wasted an entire night's worth of pizza!" Ymir cries.

"Did you at least _explain_ yourself?"

Eren immediately turns red at their outbursts. "N-No, I mean, how could I explain something like that without giving away the whole surprise?"

"She's going to think that there was something even _worse_ going on!"

There's an awkward sheepish grin-not-grin from the boy across her as he scratches the back of his head nervously. "Yeah. I'm getting to that part."

Krista shakes her head in disappointment while Ymir grabs a nearby throw pillow, sticks her face in it, and screams an array of muffled Yeager-centric curses.

* * *

"Hey," comes a low whisper, "I heard what happened between you and Mikasa."

Eren angrily turns to face the woman who's approached him, "Who told you?"

"Mikasa did," comes the even response, tinted with faint judgment. "What are you even doing, Eren? Connie had it all planned out for you!"

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbles discontentedly as he buries his head in his arms. "I kind of just panicked, okay?" He hesitates for a moment before allowing himself to peek through a small hole in his makeshift barricade to shyly ask, "What did she tell you exactly…?"

There's an uncomfortable pause and it's clear that Sasha isn't feeling too keen on sharing the contents of what must have been a very serious conversation. She settles for huffing in defeat and taking a seat across the silently distraught boy in the staff room. "She's scared that you're buying gifts for another girl." When Eren only blinks at the redhead before him, she lets out an annoyed grunt before clarifying, "She thinks you're cheating on her and trying to hide the evidence."

Eren instantly starts panicking and even though he thinks that he's actually silently berating himself in an incredibly calm manner, his actual body transposes the thought into a bloodcurdling scream as he falls into the floor in a state of dramatic groans of failure.

Sasha doesn't understand why she hadn't prepared herself for the possibility of such a reaction, and not knowing what else to do, she falls onto the floor on all fours next to him, screaming, "KEEP YOURSELF TOGETHER, YEAGER. KEEP YOURSELF TOGETHER."

Neither one notices when Levi pauses in the doorway, surveys the scene through judgmental eyes, and mutters, "Fucking new employees," before shaking his head and walking away.

("I feel him. On a spiritual level," Ymir mumbles incoherently through her pillow.

Krista's gotten good at understanding her mumbles though, and offers her an affectionate hair ruffle to brighten her spirits.

It works almost instantaneously.)

It takes a good ten minutes to calm Eren down and when that happens, he's still stuck in this awkward state of what the fuckery that he probably never would have gotten out of if it weren't for Sasha effectively slapping him so hard that the sound resonates throughout the empty room.

She proceeds to pick Eren up by the collar of his shirt and digs her elbow into his chest when he still doesn't have a reaction.

Eren, now seeing stars, looks at her in confusion and is surprised to see that she's started to tear up. "This is making me so sad, Eren! What would your ancestors think? The world is connected, you know!" Sasha cuts herself off as she proceeds to hide her face in her hands.

The moment vaguely reminds him of an extra episode to one of his favorite television shows he watched, in which the badass fighters took a break from their badassery in order to hold a cooking competition and learn the importance of including vegetables with their roasted meat.

He had to stop watching, of course, since the next season isn't scheduled for release until 2016.

The memory pains his heart a little more, but he forces himself to dramatically stand himself up from the floor in order to face the crying woman before him. "Hey, Sasha, I'm sorry for being upset. You can't cry too though. That's kind of weird."

She sniffles one more time, before holding a fist up high with a strong resolve. "Okay, as long as you understand it now!"

"Wait. Understand _what_ now?"

"You have to hurry up and propose to Mikasa _fast_ or else your relationship will continue to be shaky!"

Eren pales at her words. "I-I can't just apologize for the misunderstanding or something?"

Sasha crinkles her nose at him in disgust. "Eren Yeager, I thought I taught you to be better than that!"

"You haven't taught me anything, Sasha. Ever," he deadpans.

She shakes her head another time, "You've got to go big or go home, Eren, and right now, you are on your way _home_. And that's not what you want. Because home means _rejection_."

"I-I don't want to be rejected," he squeaks.

"No one does, Eren. No one does." She offers him a reassuring grip on his shoulder to stabilize him and remind them that there's still hope but her friend doesn't seem to really notice. "There's still a chance for you to man up and do this right though! Mikasa has a match against Annie today—you know, the big end of the year one that they've been advertising like crazy—and you can do it there! Before the match!"

Eren wrings his hands together uncomfortably. "I don't know, Sasha, I've never really been that good with large crowds. And I don't want to do anything to make myself look like an ass…"

"Don't worry, I've got it covered!" she shouts excitedly. "Okay, so Connie, Jean, Armin, and I will be in the section directly behind where you and Levi usually sit. There's usually a moment, right before the national anthem starts, during which the announcer talks a lot. Or maybe it's right after the anthem. I can't really remember but—" Eren's expression of horror forces her to pause momentarily as she again attempts to calm him down, "But I'll let you know, okay? I've already talked to the guys, and we have a pretty awesome system set up: Jean and Armin will approach the announcer beforehand so that he knows what's up, I'll keep Mikasa company in her dressing room like I usually do and make sure that she isn't in too bad of a mood—because we both know that a moody Mikasa is _not_ going to help out your plans in any way, shape, or form—and Connie will save our spots in the audience area and keep a watch over any super cute posters you may or may not make us make that spell out 'MARRY ME.'" There's another pause as Sasha shakes silently and attempts to keep her excitement to herself, but since she's Sasha, it isn't long before she blurts, "Okay, I went ahead and made all the posters already and they're really, _really_ cute, Eren, like, you guys will both love them. I'm sorry for getting a little ahead of myself—you know, doing all of that work without your go-ahead—but I was scared that since it took forever for me and the guys to get everything together, there wouldn't be enough time to make some quality posters and I—"

Her words are cut off by a sudden embrace as Eren genuinely says, "Thanks, Sash, for such awesome initiative. You're the best."

Sasha grins—though Eren can't really see it—and hugs him back. "It's no problem, Eren. I know that you'd do the same thing for me."

Another pause.

"Um, while we're on the subject, t-there's this guy that I think I like. Like, _really_ like, and I was kind of wondering if—"

"He likes you too."

"_What_?"

Eren smirks as he pulls away to make a zipping motion over his lips. "That's all I'm going to say about that, Sash. My lips are now _sealed_."

She rolls her eyes at him, bright red blush dancing on her cheeks and lovestruck grin shining on her features. "Whatever. Remember to keep an eye on the four of us though, okay? We need to all make sure that we're on the same page in order for this to work."

They share a laugh as Eren crinkles his nose at her jokingly, "You make it sounds like I'll forget something as important as that, Sasha! Have more faith in me!"

* * *

"Let me guess," Ymir drawls, "You forgot to check with them before you attempted to pull a stunt."

At this point, there's not even a _need_ for affirmation from the young man seated across from them. Ymir just continues to stare at him in pure disappointment: single eyebrow raised, nostrils slightly flared, and large frown etched onto her features. Krista, on the other hand, just shakes her head and looks like she's trying to hold back a laugh.

"Oh, God, Eren. What ended up happening?"

The man in question allows himself to release a tired sigh as he rakes a hand through his unruly hair. It's clear that he doesn't really want to relive the memory as he explains, "Well, things were going smoothly until Sasha left to go join the guys in the stands. I forgot to ask whether or not I was supposed to go up _before_ the anthem or _after_ the anthem and when I tried to ask Levi, he—" There's a moment of silence as he recalls something that evidently _shouldn't_ have ever been recalled. "Well, he wasn't much help either. So I went up during what I thought was _before_ the anthem, but I think that I went way too close to before the anthem, because it turns out that I went up to enter the ring as soon as the announcer introduced the singer. Except, I didn't really realize that I was supposed to be the singer, so I walked over to Mikasa anyway and tugged her to follow me up to the mic—"

"Oh God."

"And I was about to ask her to marry me, so I said something about how I had the feeling it was going to be a very special day, and she looked really confused, so I thought it would be perfect timing to gesture to Sasha and Armin and Connie and Jean to hold up the signs, but when I turned to look at them, they were all shaking their heads profusely and holding their arms up in an 'x' symbol. But by then it was too late."

"Oh God."

"So I awkwardly turned to her and told her that she was awesome and that she would do a good job and then I ran off the ring and into the nearest bathroom."

"_You left her in front of the mic?_"

"Uh. Yeah."

"_You made her sing the national anthem in front of all those people_?"

"Uh. Yeah."

"You are an absolute _fucktard_," Ymir groans. "Seriously now, Yeager, how much thinking goes on in that brain of yours?"

Eren rolls his eyes, "Look, okay, that was the _old_ Eren. I'm a new Eren now."

"Oh really? Then when did this all take place?"

"Um… Monday, I believe?"

Ymir continues to stare at him in disbelief while Krista only shakes her head. "Eren, you publicly humiliated her. I had heard some people talking about a 'singing boxer' when I was at the bakery, but I didn't realize that they had been talking about Mikasa…"

"At least Ackerman's a good singer and was fighting Annie. Had it been anyone else, I'm sure they would've found some huge way to give her a lot of shit for it."

"Well, we're getting to the part in the story where Mikasa basically shits on my entire existence, makes me feel like crap, and sends me running to you guys on my knees begging for help."

Krista sighs, "How much longer until we get to that point?"

"There are about two more arcs, I believe."

If he's not mistaken, he thinks that he hears Ymir start sobbing in frustration into her pillow.

But that would make him feel bad, so he goes ahead and assumes that he's mistaken, figuring that doing so would at least make the freckled woman proud.

(Realistically speaking though, the only thing that could make Ymir happy again would either be for Eren to shut up or for Krista to take her hand and lead her somewhere away from his annoying voice in order to do something fun and kinky.

Neither happens.)

* * *

Eren doesn't know why he allows himself to stoop to such a low level, but he doesn't really have many friends that would have somewhat of an idea as to how to handle the situation, so he guesses that that's why. It's almost noon and the sunlight from outside is shining in through the blinds of the office that he's too nervous to enter and man, he's in a _really_ bad position right now—

"Oh, hello there," comes the cocky tenor, "What is it, Eren?"

The green-eyed man really can't believe that he's stooped down to this low of a level, but forces himself to get over it and enter the cramped room, slamming the door behind him. "I need your help, Jean."

Said male looks genuinely surprised at this statement. However, it isn't long before the genuine surprise morphs into something _incredibly _overdramatic and Eren feels like he's about to cry.

("Well I can definitely relate to you there," Ymir growls.)

"Well, lookie here! The infamous _Eren Yeager_ coming _all_ this way just to ask _me_ for help! Whoever would have thought!"

"Shut up, Jean."

"After all the times he's called me dumb and stupid, and now, here he is! Asking _me_ for help!"

"Shut up, Jean."

"Even though there have been moments when he's made me feel inadequate and upset, _he_ comes to _me_ during his time of need because it turns out that I'm the only one who can fix his inadequacy and moody nature! Despite the various times he's oh-so-haphazardly thrown me into the depths of—"

"Jean, shut _up_."

A roll of the eyes. "Fine."

There's an awkward moment of silence as both men regard each other: Eren still in disbelief that he's actually going to do what he's about to do, and Jean still confused as to why Eren came to him and not someone else and kind of scared that this is all just a very elaborate prank in order to make him look dumb.

"I need you to teach me how to be romantic."

An eyebrow is immediately raised at this and Jean is entirely convinced now that there is a hidden camera in his office getting ready to make a fool out of him.

"Are you serious right now?"

Eren groans in affirmation before pulling out a chair in front of Jean's desk and burying his head in his hands. "The weather's warmed up a bit, so I invited Mikasa for a picnic date at the park," he explains. "I have all of the stuff ready—the food and the wine and the cake and the tumblers full of hot cocoa in case she's into something warm rather than cold—but I spent six hours on Google yesterday and still haven't come up with the perfectly romantic way to propose to her."

It's not hard to tell that at this point that Eren is being entirely serious right now, and Jean can't help but feel oddly touched that his frenemy would come to _him _for advice instead of anyone else.

So he walks over to the brunet's side and gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Well, you came to the right man. C'mon, Eren, stand up. I'll help you figure this all out." He feels like he's being a great friend right now, and that epiphany makes something in his heart expand.

"Don't make it gay, Jean."

The moment is gone and Jean rolls his eyes as he flicks the shorter boy in the forehead. "You're one to talk, Yeager."

They stand there staring at each other for a few moments, since Jean's been entirely knocked out of his helpful mood and is having difficulty getting back into the swing of what he should be doing. "Uh…. Pretend that I'm Mikasa."

"_Excuse me_?"

"You heard me," Jean snaps in annoyance. "Look, I don't really like the idea of it either, but you asked for my help and I'm trying to be a good friend."

Eren mumbles something that sounds angry and incoherent but haughtily obliges. He pushes the chairs towards the walls of the office in order to clear some space before roughly grabbing Jean's wrist and pulling him downward.

"_Whoa there_, that is _no_ way to treat a lady!"

"Then sit the fuck down, we're supposed be at a picnic, remember!?"

"And that is no way to _speak_ to a lady!"

In that moment, Eren realizes that he's made a choice full of regrets.

"Fine," he grits through his teeth. "Jean—"

"I'm Mikasa, remember?"

"_Mikasa_, would you like to take a seat here?"

There's a moment of silence as Jean regards the floor beneath him. "No thanks, it looks dirty and I don't want anything to get on my dress." When Eren only stares at him in disbelief, Jean decides to add on, "Did you maybe bring some cleaning supplies or something? I heard that Levi keeps some nice ones locked up somewhere in his office."

At this point, Eren's glare has intensified to its maximum point and Jean squeaks a final, "Or maybe a blanket or something we can put down first?"

"What the _hell_, Jean, Mikasa wouldn't care about getting dirty!"

"Eren, that's common courtesy though!

A heated debate is sparked between the two but it doesn't last for long since Jean ever-so-kindly reminds the man across him that _he_ wasn't the one who asked for help on being romantic.

"Okay, _fine_, I'll bring a blanket along to put on top of the grass." Jean hums in approval. "Can we just skip to the proposal part already? I'd rather not go on a date with you, even if it _is_ just pretend."

The taller man rolls his eyes at his friend's whiny nature. "That's okay with me. So how do you plan to do this? Should I be sitting down or standing up?"

Eren seems to genuinely contemplate this for a second. "Standing up, I think. That's how it's done traditionally, right?"

A grunt of affirmation from Jean.

Despite the agreed terms, both men find themselves incredibly uncomfortable and desperately wanting to run away from the situation. But Eren can't because he legitimately needs Jean's help and Jean can't because he doesn't want to look like a wuss for chickening out on their "special moment."

"So, um, you could probably do this when the two of you are finishing up and putting everything back into your picnic basket. When everything's all back in order and she thinks that you guys are about to go, take her hand and stare into her eyes for a bit. Say something genuine and heartfelt about your feelings for her. Then get down on one knee, take the ring out of your pocket, and pop the question."

Eren scratches the back of his head nervously, "Okay. That sounds good."

It's silent again while Jean waits for Eren to make the first move and Eren attempts to muster up the courage to do so.

However, he does eventually take Jean's hand into his own and stares up at him, bright red shining on both of their cheeks. "Uh, Mikasa, wait. There's something that I need to tell you." The green-eyed man gulps, kind of hoping that Jean will let him by without having to go into the really cheesy, really romantic stuff. Unfortunately for him, it looks as though Jean is completely set on having him practice through the entire proposal and there's probably no getting out of it. He licks his lips in preparation before forcing himself to continue, "Ever since the moment I first saw you, I knew that you were someone that I would always want by my side. You're smart and you're beautiful and even when you point out my mistakes or call me dumb, something inside my chest flutters and my entire body feels warm and I wish that I could just bottle up that feeling and share it with you whenever you seem upset. You're the sunlight of my life and I never want to let you go because you mean the world to me. I love you and I—"

Jean coughs awkwardly, suddenly realizing that it's incredibly uncomfortable hearing the man you once considered your love rival talk about his feelings for the woman you had once thought was the girl of your dreams. "Uh, let's fast forward a bit, shall we?"

Eren's cheeks manage to only get redder as he nods and gets down on one knee, still holding Jean's hand within his own.

"Mikasa, will—"

The door opens.

"Jean, have you seen—"

The atmosphere immediately runs cold as each individual in the room feels the sudden urge to collapse to the floor in mortification.

"M-Mikasa! What are you doing here?"

Said woman can do nothing but continue to stare forward at the scene in front of her. Sure, Eren had the decency to stand up and step away from the man beside him, but nothing could take the memory of what she had just seen away from her. She allows her fist to tighten around the knob of the door in order to gain some sense of stability as she avoids his stare by looking downward at the bright red scarf she had decided to wear especially today for their date. "I-I told Levi that I had a date with you today and he decided to let me off training early. You told me to find you whenever I was ready to go, so I…"

Though she had attempted to hide her expression from him, it doesn't really matter as Eren's aware of the pain delicately laced within her words. "Mikasa, sorry, I—"

"You've been acting very strangely, Eren," she says quietly before closing the door behind her.

* * *

"Oh no…"

Eren sighs and runs a hand through his hair again. "Yeah. And we're not even at the worst part yet."

Interestingly enough, even Ymir has allowed her eyebrows to knit themselves together in some genuine concern. "It gets worse?"

"Yeah," Eren mumbles. "It does."

* * *

"Armin, I really fucked up this time."

"I know. I heard."

There's a one-man chorus of various guttural sounds of displeasure as Eren throws himself onto his best friend's couch, not caring too much when the impact sends scattered pieces of paper flying about. "I just don't know what to do. Everything I've tried so far has just gone horribly wrong."

Armin sighs and sits himself on top of the coffee table, trying to ignore the stinging of his eyes and the strong urge to kick Eren out of his apartment (or at least, off of his sofa) so that he can pass out. "You don't have to think about it this hard. You just have to honestly tell her what's been going on and be straightforward about it. Asking her to marry you in any of those ways would have been really cute and really sweet, but there's a clear problem if it's stressing her out this much."

Eren grimaces at his words. "It can't be _that_ bad, right?"

"Well, let's see," Armin starts. "You made her think you were cheating on her and caused her to get numerous cuts on her hand that _probably_ needed stitching even though she wouldn't want to tell you and would instead try to do it herself, you publicly humiliated her in an arena full of hundreds of thousands of people that could hardly take a female MMA fighter seriously before and have now gone on to make her the internet meme of the week, _and_ she found you in a compromising position in which it seemed like you were professing your love to Jean." When his brunet friend still looks a little hopeful, the blond can't help but sigh. "Yes, Eren. It's _that_ bad."

The boy groans as he covers his face with his hands. "I really, _really_ fucked up this time."

"Yeah, we've gone over that one."

It's silent for a moment until there's a small ping from the kitchen. Armin hesitates for a moment, deciding whether or not now is an appropriate time to momentarily leave a discussion in order to bring back some tea. but ultimately decides that it might just help soothe Eren's nerves anyway.

He comes back with two cups of steaming green tea and clears his throat in order to offer it to his friend. The green-eyed bro begrudgingly sits up in order to take the mug from him with a mumbled thanks.

"Look, Eren, it's not the end of the world. We both know that no matter what, Mikasa will always love you. You could blow up the entire world or something and she wouldn't hold it against you. Hell, you could try to _kill_ her and it still wouldn't diminish her feelings for you. Honestly, the only way I can ever see her breaking up with you is if she ever thinks that you're unhappy in the relationship and feel obligated to stay with her. And Eren, right now, that's probably what she's thinking."

Green eyes widen in response. "B-But I—"

"Yes, Eren, I know that you have good intentions, but _she_ doesn't. You just have to talk to her. Straighten things out. Apologize for the misunderstandings. Ask her to marry you after that because _that_ will definitely be something that she'll always remember."

Silence re-enters the room as the brunet quietly digests his friend's words.

And then: "You're right, Armin."

The ecstatic, hopeful grin is back and there's a little more color on Eren's features. "Thanks for the tea, man, but I've gotta go. I think that Sasha said she was taking Mikasa out to dinner in order to cheer her up a bit, and if I make it in time, I can run into her before she makes it back to the apartment."

He doesn't bother waiting for a response (much to Armin's amusement) before he throws open the door to Armin's apartment and darts toward the street.

It's a chilly winter's night: it feels like it should be snowing but it simply isn't, and the bitter air stings Eren's lungs as he continues to run forward. His thoughts immediately shift to Mikasa and her wellbeing because what if she's not dressed warmly enough? What if she catches ill?

The thoughts make him run faster.

And so he runs up to his apartment, realizes that she isn't there, and decidedly runs back down the flights of stairs and towards the general entrance of the apartment complex.

He waits there for twenty minutes, impatiently debating whether or not he should text Sasha to ask where they are so that he can run in and whisk Mikasa away and fix all of his problems and step forward into their fairy tale like tomorrow and—

"Eren, hi."

"M-Mikasa!"

She's squatting in front of him so that they're eye-level as he sits on the curb and he scrambles to a standing position with an embarrassed flush on his cheeks. "H-Hi. Sorry about earlier today." She's looking at him with a funny expression on her face—one that Eren can't really recognize—and he quickly extends an arm in order to help her up out of her position. "How was your dinner with Sasha?"

There's no response for a minute—just more staring—and then she stands up on her own, without accepting his hand, and says, "I ended up not going."

"Oh."

It's quiet again, but to Eren, the silence is deafening.

"Listen, I—"

"Listen, I—"

Eren forces a chuckle as he nervously scratches the back of his head, "Sorry, you go first."

She's staring at him again with that funny, new expression and it's honestly starting to creep him out a bit but he chooses not to remark on it. Instead, he focuses on the way the moonlight shines upon her hair and the way her cheeks are tinged a light shade of pink because of the cold and the way her pleated skirt peeks out just barely underneath her heavy peacoat—

And the way she's taken off his red scarf and is holding it out towards him with both arms.

There's a sense of alarm ringing through Eren's head as she gestures for him to take it and the panic that engulfs him is intense and heartwrenching and—

"I'm sorry, Eren."

* * *

No words are spoken as the couple allows the words to take root within their minds.

"S-So you guys are…"

"She broke up with me," Eren finishes lamely. "That's how I ended up here."

Krista looks like she's about to start crying on his behalf and Ymir herself even looks like she's pitying him. The latter opens her mouth to ask a question, but Eren answers before she has the chance.

"I had been sitting outside your doorstep for quite a long time. I was going to come in earlier, but I heard all the commotion from your get-together last night and didn't want to be a killjoy. Bertholdt, Annie, and Reiner saw me when they were leaving and I told them what happened so they offered me a place to spend the night, but I declined." When he finally says the words out loud, it's as though the reality of what had happened the night before has come crashing down on him and the tears come rushing forth from his eyes. "P-Please help me. I don't want to lose her, I love her, _I'm nothing without her_." He tries to wipe the tears away with a stained sleeve but the action seems futile as they continue to mercilessly fall from his face.

Krista immediately moves to sit beside him, pulling him into an empathetic embrace without another word. Ymir is still shocked by the news and so it takes her a few more moments to react. But when she does, she comes back with a box full of tissues, a plate full of chocolate chip cookies, and the promise that the pain will go away soon.

It's the nicest that she's ever been towards Eren and the young man quickly realizes why a nice girl like Krista ended up falling in love with her.

"Please help me. I-I don't know what to do."

They soothe him with faint shushes and gentle strokes to his hair until he falls asleep.

* * *

When they wake him up again later that night, it's with the soft reminder that tonight is Christmas Eve and Levi's birthday party and they're not sure if he wants to go because Mikasa will be there, but they thought that it was only right for them to wake him up either way.

"Do you think that I can still give her the present I got her?"

There's a momentary pause before Krista hesitantly asks, "What was it that you bought for her?"

He whispers something so softly that the two women have to lean in just so that they can catch his words, and when they do, Ymir gives his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Yeah, I can go pick it up. No worries."

Krista nods as her wife leaves, before coaxing Eren out of his slumped position on the sofa and guiding him towards the bathroom so that he can wash himself up.

"You can still fix this, you know."

"I know. And I have every intention of doing so."

* * *

They show up to the party at Erwin's house forty-five minutes late because Krista couldn't decide which of Ymir's sweaters would look best on Eren and Ymir has a terrible sense of direction and Eren didn't really do too much to help.

It's a gigantic house, almost a mansion, and they each have to remind themselves that the Erwin Smith they know is actually a celebrity in the world of sports despite his dorky personality and so they shouldn't be too surprised.

"Hey, you guys! What took you so long?"

"Eren! I was trying to call you all night but you wouldn't answer your phone!"

"Listen, I heard about what happened and I—"

"I'm glad that you came tonight."

No one really gets to finish any one of their thoughts since Ymir takes it upon herself to shoot a harsh glare at anyone who looks like they're about to make Eren even the _slightest_ bit uncomfortable and so they all settle for aiming reassuring, well-meaning smiles in his general direction.

Mikasa's there too, standing off to the side with Annie and Levi—obviously discussing something work-related—and she looks like a princess in her simple red dress so Eren tries his best to shy away from her stare and keep her out of his for the time being.

Everyone else looks excited to be there, so he supposes that that's what he should be focusing on.

Bertholdt and Reiner are making some dumb jokes with Jean and it reminds Eren of their days in high school, when Mikasa had yet to make it into the big leagues and so she had nothing but her studies and Eren to focus on so it meant late night study dates and dozens of empty Starbucks cups littered around her bedroom floor and textbooks highlighted over and over again with bright yellow ink.

Sasha and Connie aren't too far away from them and it's clear that they're only partially involved in the conversation. They keep brushing their hands against one another's, Eren notices, and stealing shy smiles. They've finally started their new relationship with one another and it's clear that their feelings for each other are wholesome and genuine and he can't help but allow a small grin to appear upon his features as Connie finally intertwines his fingers with hers and squeezes.

Ymir and Krista are still keeping a careful distance away from him—probably to make sure he doesn't do anything he'll regret later— but they're still lost in each other's presence: the shorter girl reaching upwards to wipe away some frosting from the corner of Ymir's lips and the brunette blushing profusely at their close proximity to one another. They whisper something to one another and then they both laugh and as they both reach forward to grab the dessert that they've left on the table, their matching wedding bands shining brightly underneath the glittering light of the chandelier above them and—

And it hurts.

"Hey," comes an even voice, "I'm sorry that what happened happened."

Eren forces out a wry laugh. "There's no need to apologize. Everyone did their best to help me out. It's my fault for messing it all up."

Armin frowns at this. "Don't punish yourself too harshly. I can apologize for not kidnapping you from Ymir and Krista earlier. I'm sure that I could've lent you a nicer sweater to wear than the one you have on right now."

"It's Ymir's," Eren explains flatly. "And I doubt that anything you have would fit me properly. I mean, you _do_ go through all of the trouble of getting all your clothes professionally fitted. Who even has _time_ for that anymore?"

The two of them share a short laugh before Armin gives his friend another reassuring smile. "You remember what I said last night, right? You can still fix everything."

"Yeah. I know. And I'm going to try my best at doing so."

There's the ringing of a bell somewhere, attracting the attention of everyone in the room as they turn to face the host of the party and, beside him, the guest of honor. "Everyone, it's almost midnight."

"You know what that means," Levi adds on halfheartedly.

And that they do.

The guests within the household all gather around the fireplace with the Christmas tree to their right. Erwin, Levi, and Hanji all stand in the middle of the makeshift circle and remain silent until everyone has settled themselves in a chair or on the floor.

"Thanks to all of your donations and, as per Levi's request, we've managed to collectively donate seven-hundred-fifty-thousand dollars to charity in Levi's name."

Hanji pulls out a giant check for everyone to see and the room erupts into loud cheers.

"Most of that money was probably Erwin's," Connie whispers to Sasha, "Everyone I asked donated no more than a hundred bucks and there's no _way_ that there are seventy-five-hundred people here." She giggles at his words until Levi shoots them both an angry glare in order to shut them up.

"That being said, we'll now start the traditional gift exchange."

The room erupts into noise again as people push past one another in order to distribute the gifts that they each brought.

None of it really matters to Eren as he only has one real target in sight.

"Mikasa, hi."

She looks up in surprise at him. "E-Eren. Hi."

"Merry Christmas," he murmurs sheepishly.

"Yeah. Merry Christmas," she whispers back.

They stand there for a few awkward moments in silence until Eren pulls out the box that he had been hiding behind his back and holds it out to her, much to her surprise. "Here, from me to you."

"I-I can't take this," she responds, blush spreading brightly on her features and tears threatening to spill. "I can't."

Eren, however, doesn't accept these words as an answer. "Just open it. Please."

Emerald eyes become absorbed in onyx orbs for what feels like an eternity until she wordlessly takes the object from his hands.

She looks at the colorful wrapping paper topped with an oversized red bow hesitantly before raising her gaze once more to meet Eren's.

"Open it."

With trembling fingers, she does.

It's some kind of book, she realizes. It's a soft, black velvet with silver plating on the front with the words "My Love" engraved on the front. In the middle of it is a picture that had been taken by Armin years ago—back when they had first started dating—of Eren's arm tightly around Mikasa's shoulders while they both laughed at something the camera couldn't see. Her hair had been shorter back then, and his messier, but it's still them. They haven't changed all that much.

"E-Eren, I can't—"

"Open it."

She keeps her eyes fixed on him for another moment, silently begging him to take back his words and not force her to do this. It hurts too much. Her eyes still feel raw from the tears that she had shed the night before and her mind is still reeling in confusion because Eren hasn't been acting like Eren and she doesn't understand why so she feels like it's _her_ fault because _she's_ keeping _him_ back, and—

When it seems as though she isn't going to move, Eren gently takes her hand and flips the book open for her.

Each picture is a snapshot of their relationship together: the good times and the bad.

A photo of the two of them and Armin, back when they were still children; Armin's seventh birthday party where they all dressed up like warriors and monsters and played games in his backyard; the time she found a hurt bird on her way home from school one day and they nursed it back to health; a group shot of a slightly larger friend group—Connie, Sasha, and Jean included; a picture of her first gold at a martial arts tournament; the time when Eren had to go to the hospital because he tried to take up karate and broke a majority of the bones in his right hand at his first training session; the time he asked her out in front of their entire class; an even _larger_ group shot of an even bigger friend group—this time with Annie, Krista, Ymir, Reiner, and Bertholdt too; the time Eren finally got his driver's license after failing twice; the funeral for Mikasa's parents; them getting their acceptance letters to college; their high school graduation; their first trip outside the country; Mikasa's contract signing with Erwin and Levi; the first time they all truly got wasted after an insane party at Reiner's house; the funeral for Jean's pet dog, Marco; the time they all crashed Armin's first date; their college graduation; all of them getting hired to work at Erwin and Levi's gym after a lot of begging on all of their parts; last year's Christmas party; a photo that she recognizes as being taken last week, when it was snowing outside and Eren had taken her out for coffee and a stroll in the park and he wrapped their famous red scarf around both of their necks as she kissed him on the cheek.

She can't stop the tears from flowing because oh _God_, it hurts and she loves him but she doesn't know how he feels about her why is he doing this—

Eren tightens his hold on her hand lovingly and moves to wipe away her tears with his other hand. "Don't cry. There's only one more page, I promise."

And though she knows that Eren's never lied to her before, she can't help but doubt him since she's the one holding the photo album and can tell that there are a dozen more pages lying ahead.

But Mikasa has nothing if she doesn't have trust in Eren so she flips the page anyway.

Each page of the album had room for only one photo in the center, but Eren had cut out all of the photo slots in the rest of the pages to create a makeshift hollow of sorts. There's a shining diamond ring tied to a small velvet pillow that sits in the middle of it all, and above it, the words: " let's make more memories together. you and me—"

Mikasa feels like her heart's stopped beating and she looks up at Eren in delighted surprise, but he's already down on one knee, looking up at her expectantly. Behind him, she can see Reiner and Bertholdt nodding at her with reassuring smiles and Annie smirking at her with a knowing wink and Krista sitting on Ymir's lap as they both shoot her a meaningful grin. Sasha and Connie are holding each other excitedly and pointing while Jean has this twinkle in his eye as he gestures for her to say yes and Armin looks amused as he mouths for her to keep reading.

"—forever."

"Mikasa Ackerman, will you marry me?"

She breaks out into an ecstatic grin and the tears are freely flowing down her face now as she throws herself onto him, screaming, "Yes, yes, _yes_!"

* * *

**A/N:** Wow, okay, so that was waaaaay longer than I had originally intended it to be, haha. I'm sorry if it seems a little rushed at the end, but either way, I really hope that you liked it! A Merry Late Christmas to you all. c:

(also, bonus points to anyone who can catch all of the references made in here lololol)


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